FinTech App Expend launches Crowdcube Fundraising

London-based company Expend has launched an investment-raising campaign on Crowdcube as it warms up for a full launch.

The nine-employee-strong startup (which is based in the Shack15 co-working space) has created an app that allows businesses to handle company expenses in a much smoother way.

Co-founders Johnny Vowles and Rudolph van Graan experienced firsthand the nightmare of having to collect reams of receipts, and fill in multiple forms just to get back the cost of a cab ride—as the process was managed by outdated softwares prone to errors and expense fraud.

Instead, Expend’s iOS app can instantly capture expenses—even giving employees the option to take a picture of the receipt — and automatically upload them to the company’s accounting system (as of now, it only works with accounting software Crunch, but integration with more platforms is in the pipeline.)

The company has also created its own payment card, which reports directly to the app when transactions are completed.

The whole system makes it easier both for companies to keep track of payments as they happen, and for employees to log their expenses. “Expend will not charge for transactions going through its platform,” Company CTO van Graan explains.

Expend has been tested by hundreds of users, and the full card product is expected to be rolled out after the end of the Crowdcube fundraising.

The campaign aims at securing £750,000 in view of a full launch. With 38 days still to go, Expend has already raised more than £245,000.

“It was actually Crowdcube that approached us some months ago,” explains CEO Vowles. “What is great about it is that the [Crowdcube] platform makes it possible to have a conversation with potential investors: we have already started receiving great suggestions from some of them.”

Vowles added that the funding will be used to carry out further tests, to develop an Android version, and to start operations in Europe by the end of 2017. While the technology would theoretically already allow for a global launch, he said, the company has to make sure to comply with various different national regulations on financial matters.

“We are also planning to make our API public,” Vowles added. “In this way, people can start benefitting from Expend, and at the same time they drive further integration with the platform.”